William Blankenship Biography

William Leonard Blankenship (born 7 March 1928 Gatesville, Texas) is an American operatic tenor, music pedagogue at the collegiate level, stage and television actor, and stage director.

In Europe, Blankenship sang roles at the opera houses in Vienna (Vienna Volksoper & Vienna State Opera), Stuttgart, Hamburg, Braunschweig (1957"1960), Bern (1960), Mannheim, Brunswick, Munich (from 1965), Berne, Klagenfurt (1956 European debut), Bregenz (1972 as Phoebus in The Fairy-Queen by Henry Purcell). In the United States, he sang with the Santa Fe Opera, San Antonio, San Diego (1968), Dallas Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. He has sang in international festivals in Moscow, Salzburg, Vienna, Munich, and Rio de Janeiro. He has concertized with major orchestras on radio and television.

He is the father of Rebecca Blankenship, an American operatic soprano.

Selected discography

• Giuseppe Verdi: Otello, re-released by Arthaus Musik (in mono) (2010) ()

Singers: Adolf Dallapozza, Willy Ferenz, Margarita Lilova, Leo Heppe, Norman Mittelmann, Walter Kreppel, Wolfgang Windgassen, William Blankenship, Sena Jurinac

Conductor: Argeo Quadri

Orchestras: Vienna State Opera Chorus, South German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Boys' Choir

• Ernst Krenek, Jonny spielt auf (Jonny Strikes Up)

LP – Amadeo AVRS 5038, Philips SAL 3498 (1965) (); Amadeo AVRS 13 257

CD (re-release) Vanguard Classics (1994)

William Blankenship (Max), Evelyn Lear (Anita), Gerd Feldhoff (Jonny), Thomas Stewart (Daniello), Lucia Popp (Yvonne)

Vienna Volksoper Orchestra, Vienna Academy Chamber Choir, Heinrich Hollreiser, conductor

• Othmar Schoeck, Penthesilea BASF Harmonia Mundi 49 22485-6 (1975) ()

Hana Janku, Barbara Scherler, sopranos; Carl Smith, mezzo-soprano; Raili Kostia, contralto; William Blankenship, tenor; Roland Hermann, Kurt Widmer, baritones; supporting soloists; Choir of North German Radio Hamburg; Kölner Rundfunkchor; Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester; Zden"?k Mácal, conductor

Education

After a year at the University of Texas at Austin, Blankenship, in 1947, won a three-year scholarship to study with Mary McCormic at the University of North Texas College of Music, where in 1950 he earned a Bachelor of Music degree. While an undergraduate at North Texas, he sang major opera roles with the school's Opera Workshop directed by Mary McCormic. After three years in the Air Force (1950"1953), he attended the Juilliard School (1953"1955), studying voice with Mack Harrell and Povla Frijsh.

In 1954, Blankenship was selected by Mary Garden for the National Arts Foundation's operatic fellowship, which included a $1,200 stipend and promise of engagements in leading opera houses of France and Italy. Garden, who had auditioned 300 young American singers said that Blankenship was the finest tenor voice she had heard in America. The fellowship included a tour of study at the Vienna Academy of Music from 1955 to 1956, where he earned a opera diploma.

In 1971, University of North Texas honored Blankenship as a "Distinguished Graduate."